Paul Simon Mistaken for Neil Diamond

It’s conceivable that someone might mistake Paul Simon for the other Paul Simon. If you’ve been living under a rock for the past half-century, then you could possibly think someone was talking about the late politician Paul Simon, rather than about the Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter and one half of Simon & Garfunkel.

But apparently it’s not the bow tie and horn-rimmed glasses wearing non-Jewish senator that some people have confused with the 70-year old musician. Instead, it’s another Jewish singer of similar age that they have Paul Simon mixed up with. To the Shmooze’s ear, their music does not sound much alike, so we wonder if it’s the fact that each of them has been married three times that makes people confuse one with the other.

Yes, that’s right, Paul Simon has been mistaken for Neil Diamond. According to the New York Post, Simon shared this little bit of trivia at the premiere of “Under African Skies,” a documentary film by Joe Berlinger marking the 25th anniversary of the singer’s recording his “Graceland” album in South Africa. Speaking to the audience at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York, “Simon recalled visiting the home of a musician in Soweto when a Diamond special came on TV. The African musician’s grandmother pointed at the screen, then Simon, and exclaimed, ‘That’s you!’” the Post reported.

Paul Simon…Neil Diamond. We guess the names kind of rhyme. We’re used to telling the two singers apart, but it seems that for some people one aging Jewish singer-songwriter looks like the next, and it doesn’t matter that “Mrs. Robinson” sounds nothing like “Sweet Caroline.”

Top Stories

The Jewish Daily Forward welcomes reader comments in order to promote thoughtful discussion on issues of importance to the Jewish community. In the interest of maintaining a civil forum, The Jewish Daily Forwardrequires that all commenters be appropriately respectful toward our writers, other commenters and the subjects of the articles. Vigorous debate and reasoned critique are welcome; name-calling and personal invective are not. While we generally do not seek to edit or actively moderate comments, our spam filter prevents most links and certain key words from being posted and The Jewish Daily Forward reserves the right to remove comments for any reason.

AIPAC is kicking off its conference under a cloud of controversy over Benjamin Netanyahu's planned speech.
As the meeting starts this morning, a fresh dispute raged over Shmuley Boteach's nasty attack ad aimed at White House security chief Susan Rice.

Of Rosanne Barr, King David Kalakaua and 9 other things about Jewish Hawaii

Yum. Deli Man is a mouthwatering journey to Jewish delis across the country, from New York to Houston - our review.

The Forward occasionally sends promotional e-mails to our subscribers on behalf of selected sponsors, whose advertising supports our independent journalism. We hope you will look at their messages and find their offers interesting to you, but if you would like to opt out of receiving them, please uncheck this box.